 I've heard it a few times from different people that if you get your shot right in camera when you take it there's no need for editing and in theory that's right. In good light with plenty of time to take your shot, and repeat it if required to perfect it, and you might get a good photo that you think doesn't need to be edited. If you're just showing it on your social media maybe that's ok and you're happy with it as it is. What about when the situation isn't great for you to capture that good photograph. Maybe you have to snatch a shot before it goes or the lighting isn't great or there's a massive light contrast in your shot, too much to balance out with the settings in your camera as above ? If you've already got a good photograph then just a few tweaks to lighting, colour, vibrancy maybe is all that you plan to do, or maybe you want to add a filter to your photo with your social media app as you post it, that's still editing. What if you plan to print it or it's for paid work, or you want to turn that good photo into a great photo.... Well that's where shooting in a Raw file format and you're professional software editing comes into play with great effect sometimes if you have the time and patience to learn how to use the software and what you can actually achieve with it. With this example below, I was waiting for the sun to go down close to the mountain tops for my own sunset landscape shots but as I was waiting there, lots of people were taking quick selfie phone snaps. But as you can see it was far too bright to get a decent photo with colour and detail straight out of the camera because of the brightness of the sun at this point, and to be able to get the whole scene light balanced properly from people to landscape to sky. Shooting in Raw format and Editing is the answer...  From and over exposed sky and an under exposed foreground.... The first photo is from the RAW file from the camera that I downloaded onto my pc and is WITHOUT editing except to add a border for this example. The second photo is a finished JPG file with a vibrant orange sky, edited with my PainshopPro Ultimate Software To make those big edits like the photos above and recover the detail and colour, you need to be shooting your photographs in a RAW format because this format holds a lot more detail in your photo file than shooting in JPG, which in turn allows you to complete more extreme edit afterwards to bring out detail. If you are shooting a similar photo in the daytime, with good balanced all round light, you'll be able to get a pretty good shot with good colour and definition straight from the camera with the correct settings which you can then do minimal editing on, and for this you will probably be ok to save your photo in a JPG format but it would still be advisable to shoot Raw if you pan on doing more than posting on social media. If this or my other Photography Advice Guides have helped you, you can show your appreciation to a small independent business and help me keep spending time writing and posting these guides here for you by buying me a coffee.
You choose how much to donate >>> (even just £1 or £2 helps, Thank You) What Did I Change to get the Second Photograph....
There are lots of different editing software out there from free opensource ones like Gimp, with no support and limited instructions on how to use it to whats probably the best know one which is Photoshop & Lightroom which charge a never ending monthly fee but you do receive support and lots of how to information. I use PaintShop Pro Ultimate which probably isn't quite as on it as Photoshop but it isn't far behind, and with a one off purchase fee that's less than a years monthly photoshop fees. If you want to keep updating it, there's a yearly upgrade available at an additional cost but for me at least, it's more cost effective to miss a year or two and just upgrade when you feel you really need to or if a new feature comes out that you really want. I think this photograph is a great example of what you can achieve by shooting in a RAW format and taking the time to edit your photographs, even the one's that you think are a lost cause. 
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Janste PhotographyOffering photography service for a variety of clients from Pet Photography, Family Portraits, Business Photography, Head Shots, Event Photography Services, Motorsport Photography. Archives
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